Multiple Intelligences – Handout 1
GRADE 6 LESSON 17
What is Multiple Intelligence?
Conceived by Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences are seven different ways to
demonstrate intellectual ability.
What are the types of Multiple Intelligence?
Visual/Spatial Intelligence
ability to perceive the visual. These learners tend to think in pictures and need to create
vivid mental images to retain information. They enjoy looking at maps, charts, pictures,
videos, and movies.
Their skills include:
puzzle building, reading, writing, understanding charts and graphs, a good sense of
direction, sketching, painting, creating visual metaphors and analogies (perhaps through
the visual arts), manipulating images, constructing, fixing, designing practical objects,
interpreting visual images.
Possible career interests:
navigators, sculptors, visual artists, inventors, architects, interior designers, mechanics,
engineers
Verbal/Linguistic Intelligence
ability to use words and language. These learners have highly developed auditory skills
and are generally elegant speakers. They think in words rather than pictures.
Their skills include:
listening, speaking, writing, story telling, explaining, teaching, using humor,
understanding the syntax and meaning of words, remembering information, convincing
someone of their point of view, analyzing language usage.
Possible career interests:
Poet, journalist, writer, teacher, lawyer, politician, translator
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Logical/Mathematical Intelligence
ability to use reason, logic and numbers. These learners think conceptually in logical and
numerical patterns making connections between pieces of information. Always curious
about the world around them, these learner ask lots of questions and like to do
experiments.
Their skills include:
problem solving, classifying and categorizing information, working with abstract concepts
to figure out the relationship of each to the other, handling long chains of reason to make
local progressions, doing controlled experiments, questioning and wondering about
natural events, performing complex mathematical calculations, working with geometric
shapes
Possible career paths:
Scientists, engineers, computer programmers, researchers, accountants, mathematicians
Bodily/Kinesthetic Intelligence
ability to control body movements and handle objects skillfully. These learners express
themselves through movement. They have a good sense of balance and eye-hand coordination. (e.g. ball play, balancing beams). Through interacting with the space around
them, they are able to remember and process information.
Their skills include:
dancing, physical co-ordination, sports, hands on experimentation, using body language,
crafts, acting, miming, using their hands to create or build, expressing emotions through
the body
Possible career paths:
Athletes, physical education teachers, dancers, actors, firefighters, artisans
Musical/Rhythmic Intelligence
ability to produce and appreciate music. These musically inclined learners think in
sounds, rhythms and patterns. They immediately respond to music either appreciating or
criticizing what they hear. Many of these learners are extremely sensitive to environmental
sounds (e.g. crickets, bells, dripping taps).
Their skills include:
singing, whistling, playing musical instruments, recognizing tonal patterns, composing
music, remembering melodies, understanding the structure and rhythm of music
Possible career paths:
musician, disc jockey, singer, composer
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Interpersonal Intelligence
ability to relate and understand others. These learners try to see things from other
people's point of view in order to understand how they think and feel. They often have an
uncanny ability to sense feelings, intentions and motivations. They are great organizers,
although they sometimes resort to manipulation. Generally they try to maintain peace in
group settings and encourage co-operation.They use both verbal (e.g. speaking) and nonverbal language (e.g. eye contact, body language) to open communication channels with
others.
Their skills include:
seeing things from other perspectives (dual-perspective), listening, using empathy,
understanding other people's moods and feelings, counseling, co-operating with groups,
noticing people's moods, motivations and intentions, communicating both verbally and
non-verbally, building trust, peaceful conflict resolution, establishing positive relations
with other people.
Possible Career Paths:
Counselor, salesperson, politician, business person
Intrapersonal Intelligence
ability to self-reflect and be aware of one's inner state of being. These learners try to
understand their inner feelings, dreams, relationships with others, and strengths and
weaknesses.
Their Skills include:
Recognizing their own strengths and weaknesses, reflecting and analyzing themselves,
awareness of their inner feelings, desires and dreams, evaluating their thinking patterns,
reasoning with themselves, understanding their role in relationship to others
Possible Career Paths:
Researchers, theorists, philosophers
From: http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm#Multiple%20Intelligences%20Explained
Permission Pending
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